While this blog focuses a lot on bike racing, you'll also find a lot of other posts that explore "fun" riding too. As fun as racing is, like many others I find it just as fun to answer the call of the open road on a beautiful day and do some exploring at a slower pace. Incidentally, it's good training too. You sometimes have to go slow to go fast, and the Blackpoint Beach Loop is definitely a ride you want to take your time doing.
All these roads are familiar to me, so there wasn't much in the way of "discovery," but I'd never strung them together in quite this way before. I think I've put together a pretty cool route though that includes a lot of neat points of interest and wonderful scenery along the way. There's even a stop at a local bike shop where you can get your bottles refilled, a great used book store (in case you have some extra time and room in your jersey pocket), and - best of all - an out-of-the-way independent coffee shop where you can get a great snack toward the end of the ride. So follow along on the map and join me for a virtual tour. I'll point out the best things along the way.
The only way you can get from Old Saybrook across the Connecticut River to Old Lyme is by taking the I-95 highway bridge across and its the first major feature of the ride. Fortunately, the Baldwin Bridge has a bike/ped walkway on its north side so you don't have to dodge interstate traffic.
And as you can see, it affords some really nice views of the river valley from over 80 feet up.
Shortly after you cross the bridge, and on your way to Old Lyme, you cross the Lieutenant River. You'll notice there are plenty of water views during this ride.
Going across the Baldwin Bridge is of course VERY noisy with all the traffic and the road from the end of the bridge to Old Lyme is a wide 4-lane main road. But right after you cross the Lieutenant River, you take a left (being careful of the traffic) and head into the village of Old Lyme itself.
Old Lyme is the home of the Florence Griswold Museum and the "Home of American Impressionism." The village hasn't changed much in the last hundred years and retains much of its turn-of-the-(last)century charm. Certainly worth taking your time to explore. Of course, the best way is by bike.
You'll enter town alongside this church and take a right. You're well off the main roads by now and can enjoy the passing scenery without too much fuss (or dealing with traffic).
And there's lots of scenery to enjoy. It's still relatively rural out this way and small farms dot the landscape. This is one such farm between Old Lyme and Niantic.
After taking the backroads, you'll end up back on Rt. 156 - a fairly busy road that roughly follows the shore of Long Island Sound. Fortunately, the road is smooth and the shoulders are wide. If you don't get shaken by the occasional big oil truck going by (never too close - they're pretty used to cyclists around here), you can enjoy the big, swoopy curves and undulating terrain.
"Undulating" is one way to put it. The topography in this part of the state is full of short, steep climbs and quick descents. But there's one HUGE descent going eastbound, just short of Rocky Neck State Park, that if you have the redlight timed right has a nice long run-out and will likely give you your highest speed of the day (thankfully, it's a T-intersection coming from the left, so cross traffic isn't a problem).
You'll pass the entrance to the Park on your right (itself worth exploring if you have the time) and take a right onto Fairhaven Road toward Blackpoint Peninsula.
Just as an aside, one of the joys of writing this blog - especially "travelogues" like this - is that I end up learning more about where I'm riding. I'd always thought of the Blackpoint section of Niantic as a refuge for well-off folks in old colonial homes - much like the Fenwick section of Old Saybrook. But as with most things, there's a lot more than meets the eye. And especially for the history-minded, you don't have to scratch the surface much before you discover something interesting.
In this case, literally.
Apparently, Niantic was named after the Nehantic Indians that used to live is this area and the Blackpoint Peninsula was their last reservation. According to the best research available Wikipedia:
By 1870, the Nehantics were declared extinct by the state and their 300-acre (1.2 km) reservation, the Black Point peninsula of East Lyme, was sold. In 1886, their burial ground was sold and desecrated, and the Crescent beach community filled over it. As recently as 1988, Nehantic skeletal remains were uncovered by new construction.
Sometimes, learning history can be depressing. But it certainly gives you a much richer view of the world and every time I ride around Blackpoint in the future, I'll think of what used to be and thereby honor the memory of those that were there.
But those ghosts of the past were nowhere in my mind as I rode the Blackpoint loop this day, especially not with scenes like these cropping up at nearly every bend in the road.
Given how much shoreline property is (over)developed, scenes like this - where the meadow goes right down to the sea - are especially rare. I wonder how long it'll be before a house will be built here. I wonder what the construction might unearth...
Just about every house in this area is worth photographing, but if I got to pick one to live in, it'd probably be this one, right at the point.
The (now-infamous, to my mind at least) Crescent Beach area. A lovely spot, made all the more poignant by its history. It was hit especially hard by the hurricane/tropical storm last Autumn. But it looks like it's about ready for the upcoming season.
At the eastern-most point of our map, you'll find Niantic Bay Bicycles - a local shop which caters to the tourist and beach trade (natch), but there's a respectable number of racing bikes in the inventory as well. It's run by nice folks (& former racers) who know their stuff - and will let you use the facilities and refill your bottles.
Heading back west now, but still in the Niantic section of East Lyme, you'll pass by The Book Barn. It's actually a collection of four separate buildings and a number of sheds and offers a little bit of just about everything.
Randy, the owner, is a cyclist as well - though this business keeps him too busy to get out to ride as much as he'd like. As much as I encourage folks to ride when they can, I have to admit I just about always drive here - all the better to haul more books away (at least until I get a bike trailer).
From here you continue to head west on Rt. 156 from Niantic back past the Blackpoint turnoff, but not quite as far as Rocky Neck. Fortunately, you take a right and head north before having to climb up that great descent you bombed down earlier.
But what goes down eventually has to go up and though it's certainly not as steep, the northbound leg of this trip is a steady ascent. Fortunately, you're treated to a lot of nice farmland scenes along the way. (Un?)fortunately, you'll be going slow so you can thoroughly enjoy them. At least you won't be slowing down many cars - there's little traffic on this segment.
Once you get to Rt. 1 you've hit one of the highest points of the ride - if not the highest. You'll turn left to head west and will have to deal with trucks and general traffic until you can turn off just past Rogers Lake. The shoulders are decent, but not as well-maintained as those on Rt. 156.
But being a much older road (the original "Boston Post Road"), you'll get little gems like this along the way. I've ridden this section at least a dozen times before, but I guess I've either been going too fast - or, more likely, the foliage was too dense - to see this old milepost, marking 10 miles from New London.
Just past the southern end of Rogers Lake, you'll take a right and head northwest on Town Woods Road. Unsurprisingly, given the name, it's pretty woodsy but the shade is nice and cool in the summer. But this time of year, you can see more of the farms along the way. As with all of these pics, you can click for a larger view and if you "embiggen" this one, you'll see the sheep napping in front of the barn.
Ah - finally - Ashlawn Farm, the home of Ashlawn Farm Coffee Roastery & Cafe. A little over 30 miles into your ride, you're ready for a nice break - and this is one of the best around.
What started out as a working farm has diversified into one of the best little gathering places in the area. It's especially popular on Saturdays in the summer (they're closed on Sundays), but luckily they're open year-round. Just make sure you don't need a "natural" break in the off-season. The portapotties are strictly summer only.
But no matter what time of year you go, you can't possibly beat this view from a table on the patio. That's Town Woods Road coming in from the distance. After you finish your coffee and biscotti, you'll head down the road that goes off to the right, past the stone wall.
Once you get back to Rt. 156 you have two choices. Either take some more backroads by taking a quick left onto Saunders Hollow Road, or just continue south on 156 back to the bridge. 156 is certainly the busier option, but considering it's mostly downhill from here, you'll just about be able to keep up with any traffic.
Once you get back to the bridge's eastern approach, look for a small path leading off to the right. It'll bring you down to this overlook, complete with many informative plaques. Again, these will be of most interest to the history buffs (including natural history buffs), but you've probably come to expect that from me by now.
Incidentally, this view (especially if you enlarge the pic) shows how I outfit my racing bike for these more-leisurely jaunts: saddle bag (horrors!), lights (most of my weekday riding is at least partly in the dark), frame pump (in case you run out of CO2, or find a cyclist-in-need along the way), bombproof wheels (Mavic Ksyrium SL2s - which have never needed to be retrued even after literally thousands of miles).
After this shot, I got back on the bike and - eschewing the little path that brought me here - I practiced a little cyclocross, riding up the side of the hill back to the bridge's walkway.
And from there it was a quick 15 minutes back home. I'd only ridden 37 miles, and was never more than 15 miles from home, but it took me 3 1/2 hours with all the stops. Like I said at the beginning, it was a beautiful day and perfect for strolling. And if you have to go slow to go fast, this ride should make me plenty fast for my next race.
